Starting in 1852 Great Britain developed a thriving sewing machine manufacturing industry however many companies remained small and only made sewing machines for relatively short periods before disappearing sometimes leaving only a name or machine to history.

It also has to be remembered that whilst many British companies claimed to manufacture machines some simply sold machines labelled with their name, but which had been made in countries such as Germany. Our eventual aim is to establish a comprehensive list of ACTUAL British Sewing Machine Manufacturers, the machines made and dates of production.

The list provided below is in its infancy and will be updated as and when new information becomes available to us. Dates given for the various Companies or machines are taken from dated advertising material, the Company may have been in existence before or after the date given or the machine may have been produced before or after the date indicated unless stated otherwise.

If you come across a period advertisement, instruction manual, price list etc (dated or not) this may provide further information which would help enhance the accuracy of this list and we would be grateful if you could let us have a copy.

We are seeking additional machines to preserve, especially early cast base or unusually shaped ones not currently represented in the collection. Please click here to see the list of machines we are particularly looking for.

If you find the information provided on these pages helpful why not consider making a small donation to help us preserve further machines and to assist us in continuing our research?

We are not a charity and receive no grant aid or other such funding.

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